


Normalicy

by Pokypup49



Series: A Normal Life [7]
Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Proud Parents, adventurous Cassie, braggin parents, normalicy is boring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 16:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11650605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokypup49/pseuds/Pokypup49
Summary: Nate and Elena go to a party for one of Cassie's friends. They find themselves not so normal in the normal suburb setting.





	Normalicy

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Uncharted....

                Nate tried to consider himself a little normal. He could look normal. He was in a tan t-shirt with Arches National Park on it, in blue jeans, and converse sneakers that he loved so much. He was sitting in a plastic white lawn chair, the flimsy kind he refused to buy because they break so easily, and Elena sat against his leg in the grass. Anyone looking at them wouldn’t have guessed their difference in experience and mind. But sitting at a party for one of Cassandra’s friends, listening to other parents, he found himself bored. It wasn’t that their stories weren’t full of adventure and treasure. It wasn’t even that no one had even been shot at. It was more of what they called excitement was what he and Elena considered mundane and ritual. They found excitement in simpler things. One mother told a story about how her daughter excelled at the geography-bee while another bragged about how her daughter was already a class ahead in math. Nate, and Elena, both would nod and smile. If they bragged about Cassie, it'd be about how she learned so quickly to read a topology map, or how she’s learning how to edit video recording on Elena’s computer. Sure, she excelled rather nicely in all subjects. And they even argued to homeschool her to allow her to further her progress at a faster pace, her pace, but they both still had a distance yearning for normality. To have the excuse of staying in one spot and only traveling during the summer at least gave them the illusion that they were “normal.”

                Nate glanced over to watch his daughter bounce in a bouncy house. He didn’t have this lifestyle growing up. The lifestyle he had at her age was one of anxiety and uncertainty. He did well as a thief and a pickpocket because, at the end of the day, there was no one else to care for him. Sam did his best, but even then, Nate often felt alone. If bouncy houses existed when he was young, and he was sure they didn’t, he wouldn’t have even wanted to play on it. There was no time to, no enjoyment. He learned to enjoy the thrill of escapes and puzzles, and the adrenaline which was a direct result of high falls, capture, and gunfights. To watch his beautiful daughter laugh and play, he felt peace inside knowing she’d never have to have experience that kind of hunger and fear.

                Laughter broke his thoughts and he turned to look at the group of parents laughing hardily.

                “I honestly didn’t think she was capable of that, and there she was, swinging from the chandelier,” the dad continued to tell his story.

                “My son climbs up and opens the freezer,” a mother started telling, “and gets out popsicles.”

                “You mean he climbs up and opens the door and gets into it?”

                The mother nodded. “I would have thought he was smart enough to use the step stool I use,” she laughed softly. “But nope, he doesn’t seem to need it.”

                A round of laughter erupted again.

                “You have a second one coming! Can you handle two popsicle thieves?”

                Elena smirked as she glanced up at her husband who readily smirked back. They wanted to tell how their daughter already climbed palm trees to get coconuts, and how she had already climbed up the terrace to the roof, even at 6, to read a book on the roof in the sun. They certainly weren’t going to tell them how she was happy free scaling obstacles in Arches National Park last week. Though that was ended rather quickly once Elena found out she wasn’t properly belaying as instructed.

                “Elena, Nate,” one of the mothers called out. “You two sticking to one child?”

                “Either they are too smart, or too afraid,” a father heckled.

                Elena smirked. They wouldn’t understand it wasn’t that they were afraid. It wasn’t that they didn’t want more, even though Cassie was a tad unplanned. But she couldn’t explain to them it was a grenade that exploded near her that ruined the idea of a house full of kids. Cassie was a difficult pregnancy just by herself and the damage done by the grenade had taken a severe toll on her delicate body. She was lucky she could have Cassie at all. The doctor advised to not get pregnant again, she may not live through the next. It was hard to hear, for both her and Nathan. So Cassandra became an only child.

                Elena went to try to answer when Nathan cut her off. “I can’t risk having any more girls in the house. Even the dog is a girl!”

                Nate felt his wife’s elbow in his shin and he laughed he flinched from her jab at him.

                “Balderdash,” a larger father chuckled. “Having girls are easy, Nate! They only eat half as much as boys do, and it’s easy to scare boys away!” He flexed his arm. “Just give him a few of these and tell him you practiced boxing with his face on your bag and they won’t touch your daughter.”

                Nate snickered.

                “Boys bring home girls and you end up loving the girls more than your own son,” a mother joked with the man. “Caleb brought home a girl last week and little Conner is now obsessed with having a girlfriend. It doesn’t help that Caleb teases his brother.”

                Nate and Elena looked at each other again. None of this actually mattered to either of them. Normalcy was almost painful to hear. Nate still yearned for some sort of adrenaline. Though he found it in diving and treasure hunting, his past plagued him with an idea that normal Nathan was living a complete lie. And Elena on some level could agree with that. They both worked jobs that were dangerous, thrilling, and demanding. Thankfully they had a job that fed a little of that need, but Nate knew he was getting old. Unlike Sully, he did have a child. And when he’d wake up and eat cereal with his daughter in the mornings, he couldn’t feel any more happiness than at that moment. Hanging from a cliff or dodging bullets was second nature, but walking with his daughter to the park was more satisfying than discovering Shamballa.

                Elena loved working as an overseas correspondent, but the idea that the same danger that lured her to the battlefield could steal her from her young daughter forever forced her to move more to a motherly figure than an outgoing, hard-working, and quick remarking journalist. Now she filmed her own show, felt more self-satisfaction from her own work, and went to bed complete with her daughter in her arms, and her husband holding her in his. Both of them could admit that normalcy was difficult to swallow, and it was hard to accept for two people that lived a little more exciting life than finding a broccoli recipe that their child would enjoy.

                “Dad,” a small voice woke Nate from a daydream as a hand tugged at his sleeve. “Chelsea doesn’t believe me.”

                Nate turned to look at his daughter and they all stopped talking to watch Nate’s response. “About what?”

                “She said that Machu Pichu is too high to climb and takes years like Everest to climb it.”

                Nate looked nervously around to see everyone looking at his interaction with Cassie. “I tried to tell her it was just under 8 thousand feet and I told her that Everest was at 29 thousand feet so it’s only a third of the height of Everest so it’s an easy climb. I wanted your phone so I could show her that we went there last year and climbed to the top!”

                Nate snickered. He reached into his pocket and handed his daughter his phone. “Remember what I said,” he said softly. “It’s better to be humble the to be pretentious.”

                “Dad,” Cassie giggled. “I’m not bragging, I’m proving her wrong.”

                Elena laughed out loud first. “That’s my girl.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while. short I know, but I'm just getting back into writing again. Gotta get back into this! Let me know what ya'll think!


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